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hany58

posted on Jun 25, 2008 - 11:38 PM

Hi all,

To those that are experts in the coptic prounciation,

I have a question about the prounciation of the letter Alfa,

Do we always pronounce the letter alfa like the letter "A" in the english word "CAR" or

sometimes we pronouce it like the letter "A" in the english word "CAN"

Please give me full explainations of the answer and also if we have 2 prounciations, give me the different explainations of when to use each

the reason I'm asking this question is because Cantor Ibrahim Ayad sometimes pronounces the alfa like the letter "A" in the english word "CAN". while other cantors don't, so I just need to know why there is a bit of difference.

Also when exactly do we pronounce the letter "Theta" as "T"?? I mean we say in asomen "Sezokzaste" and the letter before the letter "Eyy" is "Theta",

thanks very much for your help

Hany

Joined: Mar 20, 2007 | Posts: 167

AMoussa01

posted on Jun 26, 2008 - 05:42 AM

I am no expert in coptic but I am pretty sure it is supposed to be like "CAR." Due to arabic accents and the people from egypt, the pronounciation has been quite inconsistent. Usually you would hear doxa patree ("CAN") instead doxA pAtree ("CAR"), which is incorrect. If you listen to some parts of the liturgy you can definitely find inconsistencies regarding this pronounciation. For example, during the time of the reading of the gospel and psalm 150 we say doxA si kirie like "CAR" and when we say doxa patree we say it like "CAN." It makes no sense whatsoever. I also asked the same question regarding the letter Theta and you can find it here:

http://copticheritage.org/PNphpBB2-view ... aee1.phtml


GB
Tony

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